


Keep on Beating

by itsallAvengers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Heartbeats, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nightmares, Protective Steve Rogers, Slash, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers-centric, Superheroes in love, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is a reckless idiot and Steve is done with his dumb boyfriend's shit, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 19:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9009829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallAvengers/pseuds/itsallAvengers
Summary: There were an awful lot of things Steve loved about Tony. But one thing in particular Steve could never get enough of was his heartbeat.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Sanaia. A thank you, I guess, for being here when I needed you, for making me laugh and motivating me and just being an amazing person that makes my day brighter just by talking to you. We don't talk nearly as much as I would like to and that pisses me the fuck off, but I wanted to show you that I fucking loVE YOU. SO MUCH. WHAT THE FUCK.  
> So I wrote you 6k of a ridiculous amount of fluff that I thought up a night ago and worked through the night until five a.m. to finish in time to give to you on Christmas (I asked you what your favourite trope was three days ago, and then when you don't reply I try and make it to fit what I think you like and then TWENTY MINUTES AGO you text back and tell me you like Peggy/ Tony interactions? Smh woman wyd with yourselF IT'S TOO LATE NOW.)  
> Anyway to sum up; I love you and you are one of the best people I've ever met- also shoutout to Karishma and Millie for being the other two people in our squad that I hold unconditional amounts of love for. Y'all are the best and I am so glad we all got talking because you're just so fuckin great okay that is all. I am finished.

There were an awful lot of things Steve loved about Tony.

 

Like the way Tony’s smile felt against this skin, or the sensation of his laughter, muffled into Steve’s chest. There was literally nothing Steve could think of that felt better than Tony’s lips curling up and his teeth scratching up against Steve’s body as he hid that ridiculously cute smile of his.

  
Or how he could never walk past a cat without stroking it for at least a good five minutes (Steve had lost count of the amount of important events they had both been late for because of some random cat Tony had spotted wandering the streets).

  
And the way Tony always _, always_ got flustered whenever Steve told him ‘ I love you’. You would’ve thought by now, after a year of Steve saying it every morning, Tony would’ve gotten used to it at least a little bit- and yet _every damn time_ , he would stutter over his next sentence and fail to hide the adorable little blush that would undoubtedly crawl up his cheeks.

 

There were an awful lot of things Steve loved about Tony. But one thing in particular that Steve could never get enough of was his heartbeat.

 

It was a strange thing for Steve to fixate on. It wasn’t like Tony’s was anything special; everyone had a heartbeat- it was the most common and natural thing on Earth. He supposed it was more of a reassurance than anything else, really. Over their years fighting together, they had both been fatally injured more times then they could count on their fingers. Bones broken, brains damaged, deadly viruses contracted.  
Hearts stopping.

And it scared Steve. Terrified him more than anything else he could think of. Tony’s heart was in worse shape than a lot of normal _civilians,_ never mind superheroes. It had been abused and damaged and an invasive piece of machinery crushed down on it every waking second. Even with Steve’s enhanced hearing, it was difficult to hear the beats over the constant thrum of the arc reactor.

And that was just the physical side of things. Tony’s heart had been broken, too. He’d been betrayed and hurt and used for nothing short of his whole life, and it honestly made Steve’s skin scrawl to think about some of the things that had happened to Tony over the years. People would do anything for his money or his ideas or his fame- they didn’t care so much for the person behind all that.

  
Steve couldn’t quite imagine how stupid someone would have to be to think that, but _dear God_ did he pity them. Because nothing Tony owned or created was worth as much as he himself was- and anyone who didn't see that didn't deserve to go anywhere _near_ Tony Stark.   
And yet, it seemed they always ended up with him. There were signs of past abuse and trauma that were obvious to Steve; every sudden flinch or hesitant confession making the burning anger in his heart grow stronger at the way people had treat his boyfriend in the past.

So yes. Steve worried constantly about Tony. He worried about him getting hurt; he worried about other people hurting him, and he did his level best to make sure neither ever happened. 

But listening out for Tony’s pulse had become more of a habit than anything; the simple beating of Tony’s heart did wonders to Steve’s own pulse when he was stressed or angry- calming him down and anchoring him even in the tensest of situations.

They were superheroes, living in a world of super villains and gold diggers and spies, so hearing something as simple and normal as a heartbeat- feeling that cold, hard proof of life under his fingers when he desperately needed it- was a lot more comforting than you’d think.

__________

 

“You’re doing it again,” Tony mumbled softly, his voice barely above a whisper against Steve’s ear.

 

They were sat together on the couch in the living room; Steve curled up around Tony with his ear resting directly over the reactor. It was late afternoon, and the tower was unusually quiet- Clint and Natasha out spying for SHIELD, Bruce down in Washington to visit Betty, and Thor visiting Jane and Darcy. They had a few hours before Thor returned, but until then they were blissfully alone.

They could have spent that time doing a multitude of different (and wildly inappropriate) things. As soon as Bruce had left and they had become the only two in the building, Tony had grabbed Steve by the loops of his belt and pulled him down on to the couch.  
Where they had been napping for two and a half hours.

 

“Doing what?” Steve asked, lifting his head a little to look at Tony in confusion.

“Tapping your fingers in time with my heartbeat,” Tony couldn’t resist stroking a hand through Steve’s messy hair, the neat parted style he usually wore completely unruffled by the mixture of sleep and Tony’s fingers.

Steve glanced down at his fingers, resting on Tony’s hip as they tapped out the steady beat that was indeed in sync with the pulse he could hear through his ear.

“Huh- guess I am,” was all Steve said, before planting his head back down on Tony’s chest and pulling him in even closer with the hand on his hip.

“Why d’you do that?” Tony asked after a few seconds of silence, the hand playing with Steve’s hair travelling down to fiddle absently with his collar instead.

Steve was quiet for a moment, pondering his reasons and trying to find a simple explanation.  
“Proof, I guess.”

“Of what?”

“That you’re here. Alive. Mine,” Steve murmured, closing his eyes and shifting his head until it was buried in the crook of Tony’s neck instead.

“You don’t have to feel my pulse to know that, Steve.”

“I know. Doesn't stop me worrying about you though. Comes with the territory,”

Tony laughed softly, pressing a kiss against Steve’s temple.  
“Take all the precautions you want, babe. I'm not complaining,” he assured, before closing his eyes once again and drifting off into a light sleep, his fingers still holding gently on to Steve’s collar.

__________

 

_Everyone was dead._

_Wherever he looks, there were bodies. It reminded him of the battlefields, back in the war. Lifeless men, women, children; all scattered about the streets._

_It was his fault._

_He ran, sprinting down the high-street in search of his friends. He needed to know if they were okay, if they at least had survived the latest attack on their planet.  
They had to be alive. He would find them._

_It was snowing and wet and bitterly, bitterly cold but Steve kept running. Through alleyways and markets, he didn’t even know where he was heading but he just knew he had to find them._

_God. Everyone around him was dead._

_Turning a corner, he saw the Avengers Tower loom above him. Thick, black smoke cascaded from the windows of the penthouse, and the whole building was collapsing in on itself, unable to withstand the gravity of it’s latest bombardment._

_But Steve wasn’t interested in the tower. Because there were five bodies on the floor a few feet from him and he felt the sick wave of nausea hit him when he realised that it was them; Clint and Natasha and Bruce and Thor and-_

_“_ Tony _,” he heard the word, choked out of his lips like a desperate prayer as he stumbled forward the last few steps, coming down to his knees beside the lifeless figure in front of him, “- Oh, God, no…please, Tony-“_

_His shaking hands came down to Tony’s neck, feeling around for that familiar beat under the pads of his fingers, his free hand gripping the side of his face in barely contained terror._

_Pleaselettherbeapulsepleaselettherebeapulsepleaselettherebeapul-_

_There wasn’t a pulse._

_Tony was dead. And so was Bruce. And Thor and Clint and Natasha and everyone and oh God- he was going to be all alone again, he’d just lost everyone he loved in one fell swoop, this couldn’t be happening, not agai-_

“-eve, Steve, calm down baby, please- it’s just a dream! Come on honey, stop, it’s okay. It’s okay, shhhhh,”

Steve’s eyes shot open in panic, hands scrabbling wildly where he lay, searching for something, _anything_ he could cling on to like a lifeline. He knew what he was looking for, but he couldn’t find it and he could hear the horrified, choking sobs that were being ripped from his throat getting worse with every second-

There was suddenly a hand, gripping Steve’s wrist and holding tightly as he flailed, then another one coming up and resting against his cheek and rubbing soft circles against this jaw, a pair of legs coming up to straddle his hips and hold him down as he struggled.

The gesture should have sent him into immediate fighting mode, getting ready to throw whoever it was off him with all the bodily force he could muster. But it was familiar; Steve knew instantly that he wasn’t being attacked. It simply helped him take a few deep breaths and gather his composure back.

Tony was looking down at him, pursing his lips as he used all his power to hold Steve down and stop him hurting himself (or worse, Tony). The room was lit in a soft gold light, and Steve could see the crack in the wall from where his fist must have connected with it in his sleep.

“Hey, it’s okay babe. You’re safe; it was just a dream, okay. Just a dream,” the other man soothed, his hold on Steve’s wrist gradually loosening until it simply became a gentle caress, fingers running over Steve’s angry red knuckles softly and then covering it entirely in an attempt to stop the violent shakes.

Steve clenched his eyes shut, trying to get rid of the image of Tony lying motionless in his arms as their home burned around them, but it felt as if it were permanently scarred on to his memory, because he just _couldn’t._

“You… God, Tony- you were- you were _dead,_ I- I don’t-“

There was silence in the room for a few seconds before Tony shifted, moving to grab for Steve’s hand with his own and making sure Steve’s fingers were curled directly over the inside of his wrist.

“Listen,” he whispered, using his free hand to press Steve’s fingers down against the pulse on his wrist.

 

There it was. The gentle, ever-present throb of his heart, beating a little fast and erratically underneath Steve’s middle and index finger.   
Tony wasn’t dead. He was fine, they had just been sleeping and Steve had had a bad dream. It hadn’t been real.

It hadn’t been real.

 

Steve shut his eyes again and let his head fall back on to the pillow, allowing that steady thrum wash over him like a lullaby and feeling his own frantic heartbeat slow down to match Tony’s own. He kept listening until he was sure his hands had stopped shaking and his breathing had evened out, then opened his eyes once more to look at Tony, who hadn’t moved from his position on top of Steve for a good few minutes.

“You shouldn’t have done that. We agreed you would stay away when I had nightmares,” Steve said, glad his voice didn’t waver too badly.

Tony rolled his eyes and shot him a look, before rolling off Steve and back to his place on the left side of the bed, making sure not to let go of Steve’s hand as he did so.   
Steve really loved him for that.

“Hey, I did for the most part. Got off the bed and everything, shouted at you till you woke up.”

“You’re supposed to stay away until I’m _fully_ aware, Tony,” Steve growled, his eyes drawn to the dent in the wall that had been made from his own fist.

They had both agreed it would be better for Tony to stay well away if Steve had a nightmare. At first, Steve hadn’t even been willing to sleep in the same bed as tony at all- it was only through endless nagging and the agreement that if Tony woke up when Steve was having a nightmare, he would leave the bed immediately that Steve gave in and let himself actually sleep with Tony.

He was dangerous when he was conscious. He was even worse when he wasn’t. There was no control at all when he slept, no holding back. If Tony got in the way of one of Steve’s punches at full-force…

“Steve. I didn’t go near you. I swear. As much as it kills me watching you struggling every time this happens, I always leave. Relax, I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fine.”

“I was still trying to fight you off when I woke up, Tony-“

Tony snorted and made a face, shaking his head and rolling closer to Steve’s chest as he did so, muffling the rest of his noises in Steve’s skin.  
“Steve, you were doing nothing more than wiggling like a kid being tickled.”

“There was still a chance I could hur-“

“Are you saying you wouldn’t do the same for me?” Tony asked suddenly, interrupting Steve’s speech, “are you saying that if I had, say, my gauntlets on and I was fucking screaming and you had the opportunity to help me, even if you ran the risk of getting hurt, you wouldn’t do it?”

“Tony, that’s different-“

“No Steve, _it’s not._ I’m allowed to try and help my own goddamn boyfriend stop feeling terrified, okay? End of discussion” Tony finished.

Steve opened his mouth to put the final word in, but Tony quickly used his free hand to clamp over Steve’s mouth and stifle the words.

“End. Of. Discussion,” he said firmly, then yelped when Steve licked his hand suddenly, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s childish antics.

“Go back to sleep, honey,” he whispered, kissing Steve’s collarbone and then tucking a hand up against his chest.

“Tony?’

“Mm?”

“…Promise me you’re okay.”

Tony slowly looked up, until he was eye to eye with Steve, leaning forward and placing a delicate kiss against this forehead before snuggling back down into Steve’s arms.

“Always, Steve.” He smiled against Steve’s chest, “you know me. I’m invincible.”

Steve smiled and shook his head. It wasn’t true- not by a long shot- but it was good enough for the moment.

“’M’kay. G’night, Tony.”

 

They fell back into sleep once more.

Steve never let go of Tony’s wrist.

__________

 

“Steve… you know I love you, right?”

 

That was the last thing Tony said on the comms before his line went dead- and Steve had been sprinting through the HYDRA facility at something close to 60mph ever since.

“Clint, send word to SHIELD, we’re gonna need a med team on site immediately,” Steve hissed through his earpiece, flinging his shield at three guards as they descended on him and continuing his sprint through the corridor. The building was too damn big, and Tony still wasn’t _fucking answering._

“On it; we’ve got Bruce heading to the east wing as we speak, you’re probably gonna be a few minutes in front of him though,” Clint shot off the facts as he worked, but Steve barely registered it.

There was something very wrong with Tony.

He knew where Tony was; working on stopping the huge supercomputer that had been set up to break down all communication signals in the northern hemisphere, but Steve could have sworn they’d taken out all of HYDRA’s defenses before leaving Tony there. They’d checked. Steve _knew_ they’d checked. So he didn’t know what the hell had happened, but Tony had sounded so… _final,_ and it was enough to set alarm bells ringing loudly in Steve’s ears.

 

He rounded the corner and came to the corridor Tony was supposed to be working on, dead silent except for the occasional spattering of electric sparks from a wire that had been pulled out of the wall. Steve ran forward, wanting to call Tony’s name, but wary in case whatever had managed to overcome Iron Man was still around.

He followed the wires that had been pulled from the wall, rushing into the room they lead to with his shield raised in defense, but there was no one there.

Except Tony. Lying across the floor. Motionless.

“ _Shit,_ ” Steve swore, letting his shield drop to his side as he rushed forward, turning the suit toward him anxiously and using shaking fingers to release the clasp on the side of Tony’s faceplate, pulling it off in one swift motion.

His eyes were closed, and his face was a sickly grey colour, a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead. There was no visible sign of trauma on the suit or his head, but Steve knew that a multitude of other horrible things could have happened while Tony had been left unguarded on the opposite side of the building to everyone else.

“ Jarvis, status report. Now,” Steve ordered, unfastening all the other pates with the tiny locks that were hidden about the suit.

“Sir’s arc reactor has been compromised. He went into sudden cardiac arrest 4 minutes and 39 seconds ago. I have alerted Doctor Banner of the situation, and he is arriving with a replacement reactor in a few minutes. For now, please initiate CPR immediately, Captain Rogers,” Jarvis ordered right back, and Steve couldn’t help the full body flinch at the news.

Tony’s _heart._ God, Steve had nightmares about this very thing. He could feel the shaking begin in his fingers; now unable to be calmed buy the feel of Tony’s heartbeat against him because _it wasn’t there anymore._

Fuck. Okay. Calm down. Keep him alive. Heart not beating, huh? Well you can damn well do it for the irresponsible son of a bitch.

 

“Will it damage the reactor?” he asked the AI, taking off the last piece of the chest plate armour and throwing it to the side.

“I would suggest using 10% strength, Captain, so as to minimize as much injury as possible,” Jarvis replied crisply.

Steve grimaced. Whatever happened, Steve was going to damage the arc reactor. He was too strong for this, Tony needed someone like Clint or Nat or Bruce, at least they had a better idea of what to do in this situation, for fuck’s sake, his own damn boyfriend needed his help but he was going to hurt him, he was going to h-

“Captain. We cannot wait. You will do your utmost to keep him alive; both me and sir are fully aware of this,” Jarvis cut through Steve’s inner meltdown, his voice sharp and no-nonsense.

No. Jarvis was right. Steve could do this. He could keep Tony alive. What use was he if he wasn’t even capable of doing that?

Placing his two hands down over the reactor, he shut his eyes and concentrated on pushing down at the right pressure. Too light and it would do nothing- too hard and he’d crack the reactor and a few ribs.

He’d been taught CPR by Bruce. The scientist had even taught him a song to help him keep up the beat that he needed (‘staying alive’ by the Bee Gee’s- pretty ironic song title, really). He knew this. 30 chest compressions, then two rescue breaths. 30 chest compressions, then two rescue breaths.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

“Come on, Tony. Breathe for me baby, _please_ ,” Steve whispered, swooping down and locking his mouth against Tony’s own, passing him the oxygen that he was no longer breathing in for himself.

“Captain, may I warn you that Doctor Banner will be arriving in a few minutes with the replacement. Please continue CPR until he arrives,” Jarvis spoke up again, nothing but white noise in Steve’s ears as he lifted himself up again and pushed down sharply on Tony’s chest, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood in order to stop himself coughing up half-formed sobs. 

God, Tony still wasn’t moving. He should be moving right now. He was supposed to be okay, _he’d promised he’d always be okay-_

A warm hand on his shoulder was gently pushing his hands off Tony’s chest, and Steve was so awfully close to immediately snapping forward and breaking the person’s sternum, before looking up for just enough time to realise that it was Bruce, holding a spare reactor in his left hand and Steve’s shaking shoulder in the other.

“Let go, Steve.”

What the _fuck_ did he mean, let go, Steve wasn’t just going to give up on him like that, he wouldn’t ever-

“I need to get to the arc reactor.’

Oh. Right.

Hastily withdrawing his hands from the circle in Tony’s chest, he shuffled to the man’s head instead, cradling him on his lap and stroking absently at his hair as he watched Bruce get to work.

The man wasn’t even wearing anything more than the scrappy remains of his specially modified trousers, but he radiated a cool composure that Steve was most certainly lacking in- immediately digging into the darkened reactor buried in Tony’s chest and tugging it out with practiced ease, slotting the new one into place after a few clicks and waiting for the tense few seconds as it whirred and booted into life with little more than a quiet hum.

Steve’s fingers immediately slid down to Tony’s carotid artery, feeling for a sign of life that would stop the horrible, sickening dread that was resting on his shoulders.

“Give it a few seconds, Cap,” Bruce warned, returning his hand back to Steve’s shoulder as they both waited.

And waited.

And waited.

 

Until they stopped waiting, and Steve felt the faint, erratic little vibration under his fingertips once more.

“Oh thank _fuck_ ,” Steve breathed, letting out a terrified little breath of laughter and leaning down to kiss Tony’s cheek, his nose, his closed eyelids-

“We’re not out of the water yet, Steve. How long had he been unresponsive, Jarvis?” Bruce said gently.

“4 minutes and 39 seconds, Doctor Banner.”

Bruce grimaced and bit his lip, looking to Steve with something that was too close to fear for him to be happy with, and immediately Steve was sitting up straighter, ready to deal with whatever Bruce said next. If the man needed him to run across the building with Tony over his shoulder get him to the med team in under a minute- well, Steve would find a way to do it. Whatever it was, it was fixable. It had to be.

“There’s… Steve, that’s a long time for the brain to go without oxygen.”

Well. That wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

“Are you- what does that- you think he’s gonna be-“

“Brain damage. Yeah. It’s a possibility. We need to get the med team here as soon as possible. Can you go get them for me?” Bruce spoke softly, and Steve took a moment to imagine refusing; imagine making Bruce go and get them instead, so he could stay right where Tony was, and look after him like he should have ten minutes ago, saving him from whatever the fuck had happened here.

But he knew that would be illogical. Steve was faster, stronger, and not as equipped to deal with injuries as Bruce was. Of course he needed to be the one to go.

That didn’t make it easier.

Giving Bruce a curt nod, he stroked the damp hair off Tony’s forehead, letting his fingers linger for a second over the tiny thrum under his neck before standing up briskly and running out of the room as fast as he had come in.

__________

 

He’d used his own life support machine to overload HYDRA’s supercomputer.

He was a fucking idiot. The arc reactor might have been the only power source with the energy to be able to stop it, but that didn’t make it okay. Tony couldn’t just plug himself into whatever computer that refused to work with him and use his own fucking life source apprehend it.

Reckless. Stupid. Idiotic.

 

Steve closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head on the hospital bed in front of him. The machines were beeping steadily, just as they should, and Steve had his own confirmation in Tony’s wrist, which he had been holding nonstop for about 38 hours now.

The doctors had said it had been a close one. They hadn’t detected any noticeable changes in the man’s brainwaves, but had been keeping him under sedation for the day in order to perform the required scans and procedures. Tony was supposed to be waking up in the next few hours.

Steve couldn’t wait. He needed someone to yell at, and it seemed that considering the others had steered well clear of him and his foul mood over the past day, Tony was going to be the only viable option.

Fuck. He could still remember the feel of Tony’s body, completely still on the cold floor.

 

“Well, don’t you just look like a little ray of sunshine today,”

It was sarcastic and ill-timed and a little bit rude- so of course, that could only mean Tony was awake at last.

 

Steve froze; feeling it as Tony’s hands gently began closing around his own in greeting. His head jolted upward a few seconds later, staring intently down as Tony stared right back, both of them carefully checking the other for injury.   
Not that Steve hadn’t done that a thousand times over the past 30 hours, but traditionally, they both did it while the other was conscious.

Steve had been going to shout. Obviously. Tony had been stupid and reckless and Steve had nearly lost his whole damn universe in one moment of stupidity. It was utterly, truly terrifying to think of, and it made Steve shake with anger that Tony could play with his life, with _Steve’s life_ , like that.

Instead, he climbed on to bed with Tony and wrapped his arms so tightly around the smaller man that there was not a centimetre of space between their bodies.

“Huh, no shouting? This is nice, I like this more,” Tony mumbled into Steve’s shoulder, doing his best to try and wrap his own arms around Steve despite his drug-riddled state.

“I’m so, _so_  sick of you nearly killing yourself. But that’s just it. I’m tired. So fucking cuddle with me until I have the energy to start screaming,”

He felt Tony huff out indignantly, but didn’t say another word as he clumsily lifted his arms until one was cradling the back of Steve’s head and the other was wrapped around his waist.

“I love you, y’know. I did say it this morning, but you weren’t conscious for it. Which, by the way, I'm still very mad about, ” Steve spoke after a while, waiting for the inevitable complete breakdown of Tony Stark’s thought process that inevitably came hand in hand with those three words.

“I- um- you- well, obviously- I love you too- but also, it is equally as common for it to be you who is the one in medical, Mr I-jump-off-buildings-like-it’s-an-Olympic-sport,” Tony replied, his cheeks colouring as they did every time, and a hand coming up to smack Steve playfully on the arm,   
“Hey, why’re you laughing at me, Rogers- I’m sure I’m supposed to be in trouble, this change of tune is quite frankly uncharacteristic and disturbing. Are you a skrull? I feel like this what Skrull-Steve would do. Stop laughing, Steve, you’re freaking me out!”

But Steve couldn’t. He didn’t even know why- maybe it was the sight of the ridiculous, crazy, stupidly genius love of his life lying in bed with his arms folded and a pout on his lips that could rival that of a three year old child- but he felt it was more to do with the current overflow of emotions that were leaking from him at the prospect of a seemingly 100% healthy Tony, back with him once again, being rude and childish and embarrassed just like he was every day.

“ You’re a God-damn idiot, you know that?” Steve chuckled, burying his head down into the pillow and blowing into Tony’s ear, just to watch him squirm.

“Fuck OFF, Steve!”

“Make me,”

“Well, maybe I fucking will, you incorrigible man-“

Steve laughed again, pulling Tony back into his arms again and throwing his legs over Tony’s, holding him in place.

 

“And I do know, by the way.”

“Know what?”

“That you love me. Of course I know. That would have been a dumb last thing to say.”

“Steve... I’m sor-“

“If you are so desperate for last words, make them the key code to the special Captain America Memorabilia room that _I know_ you have somewhere in your archives, Rhodey told me himself-“

“StEVE! HOW THE _FUCK_ DO YOU KNOW THA-”

Tony rolled off the hospital bed. Steve should have been worried, but he just laughed again

__________

 

“Tony, what the hell are you calling me down to workshop for, it’s three a.m., I was aslee-“

“I know, baby, and I’m really sorry- but I think you’re gonna love this, just come down here for a teeny tiny little minute,” Tony’s voice was crystal clear over the speaker, and Steve rubbed his eyes wearily, glancing at the empty space in their bed and wishing that for once, Tony could just keep a normal sleep schedule like everybody else.

Rolling out of bed with a sigh, Steve made his way out of the room and into the elevator, cursing his ridiculously low self-restraint when it came to pandering to the whims of his stupid insomniac boyfriend.

3 a.m. Goddamnit, that wasn’t _normal._

 

“Tony, this better be good.”

Tony’s head shot up from the desk, and his whole face lit up in delight at Steve’s presence. It was obvious the man had been up for far too long- he was pretty much vibrating on the spot, running on nothing more than caffeine and willpower.

“Okay. Okay, right. Okay. Are you ready to hear two words that are gonna change your life forever and ever and ever more?”

Steve narrowed his eyes suspiciously, folding his arms obstinately and running through some of the previous times Tony had told him something was going to ‘change his life forever’ or ‘make life so much better/easier’.

It had usually ended in disaster.

“I swear, Tony, if this is a sex thing, I’m going back to fucking bed, I do not want to be dragged out of our lovely, warm room for-“

“No no no, not a sex thing, I promise!”

“… Continue…”

“You ready for it?”

“I really hope so,”

“It's a big deal.”

“I would expect nothing more from you, to be honest,”

“Game changer,”

“Again, I stick by my ‘isn’t everything, with you?’”

“Probably gonna fuck everything up or something, I don’t know, kind of a heat-of-the-moment thing, bringing you down here to do this right now. The actual idea, obviously, was not. I planned this for months, but I’ve just finished designs now and I got excited, but you’re probably right, this is a weird conversation to have at 3a.m. in my workshop on a Monday morning. I mean who likes Mondays anyway-“

“Tony. Stop rambling and tell me the game-changing, heat of the moment decision of yours,”

Tony stopped, nodding his head and turning around, grabbing something from the desk before taking an audible deep breath and throwing it across the room to Steve, who of course caught it in his left hand without even thinking.

 

“Marry me.”

 

Steve’s response stumbled and died on his lips as he processed the words Tony had just said to him, casual as if he were discussing the weather. But looking at Tony across the room- at how he was shifting on the balls of his feet and fiddling about with any and every available object on his desk, refusing to make eye contact with Steve, you could tell that in reality, Tony was very much not casual about this.

It was as if he expected Steve to _say no_ , or something.

 

Slowly opening the simple wooden box that Steve had caught in the air, he stared in wonder at the perfectly designed band of silver that was perched in the foam, engraved with nothing more than a tiny circle at the centre with a long line on either end that connected together at the back.

He lifted it out of its case, making a show of putting it on his finger as slowly and obviously as possible, so not even Tony could miss it with his eyes on the floor, before letting the huge ridiculously sappy grin finally take over his face.

“Can’t say no to a life-changing offer like that, can I?”

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise, staring at the ring that was now sat comfortably on Steve’s finger before opening his mouth to say something else. He never got the chance, however, because in the half of a second it had taken for Tony to open his mouth, Steve had crossed the length of the room and swept Tony up in a tight embrace, slotting his mouth against Tony’s own and preventing any more words being spoken.

He tried to think of a time when he’d been quite this unequivocally, completely, utterly happy before in his life.   
He came up blank.

“Oh my god, I love you _so fucking_ _much_ ,” Tony said against Steve’s mouth, his hands coming up and sweeping through the blond hair of his new fiancé.

Steve was about to reply with his own variation of ‘oh my god you are literally the best thing that has ever happened to me ever’ when he was distracted by the tiny, almost indistinguishable feeling underneath the finger occupied with Tony’s new ring. He paused the kissing, eyebrows furrowing slightly as he focused in on it, discovering that actually, it was more of a steady rhythm than a random feeling against his skin.

Tony saw the confusion and grinned, raising his hand and pointing at the matching ring that was on his own finger.

“Wondered when that would kick in. Worked it out yet?” He asked, moving Steve’s spare hand toward his own as he spoke, until Steve’s fingers were resting in the usual place just over Tony’s pulse.

It was a few seconds before it clicked; and this time it was Steve’s turn to widen his eyes in surprise, before breaking out into yet another happily large smile.

“Oh my God. It’s your heartbeat. In my ring?”

“Yeah. Simple really, your ring’s connected to mine; my ring’s connected to yours. They can pick up the tiny vibrations of our heartbeats- I know hearing it calms you down, so I thought I’d add it in. So you’ll always know, for sure,” Tony explained quietly, whilst Steve focused in on the tiny pulsing that the ring was giving off, exactly in time with the real-life one on Tony’s wrist.

“The vibration is insignificant enough to be ignored unless you’re focusing on it, so you won’t have to worry about it distracting you. It’s just… there to serve as a promise, I guess. But if you don’t like it, or you think it will annoy you I can always take it out, I don’t care-“

Steve silenced him again with a hard kiss, hands pulling Tony in even closer desperately, feeling every tiny little beat like it was his very own.   
“Tony. This is, quite possibly, the best thing anyone has ever given me. Ever. I love it,”

“Better than the shield?”

“I’d say so, yeah,”

Tony whistled, the sound trailing off as his mouth turned up into a pleased smile.  
“Damn. The Shield is your baby, she’s gonna be pissed,”

“She’s gonna have to deal with it, then.”

“Steve, just before we get too excited… you’re sure, right? I know I kinda sprung this on you, and I don’t want you feeling like… I don’t know, obligated or anything,” Tony said suddenly, his hands beginning to tap nervously on Steve’s arm.

Steve just rolled his eyes and gripped his ring protectively against this chest, right hand coming over to cover it.

“Hey, you can’t take it back now.”

“Well I certainly wasn’t planning to. I was just wondering if you did, that’s all-“

“Tony,” Steve said, the smile fading a little as his hands moved up to Tony’s face and held him a centimetre away from his own face.  
“You are the best thing in my life. You’re who I wake up being in love with every morning, and you’re who I go to sleep loving, too. I’ve known I was a done deal after the first damn month of dating you. I didn’t even care if we ever got married; I just wanted to spend the rest of my days here. With you. Because _I_ \- Steve Grant Rogers, love _you_ \- Anthony Edward Stark, with everything I have,”

Tony stared up at Steve for a long time; trying to formulate a sentence in his mind that wasn’t just an incomprehensible string of letters.

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna get over how fucking lucky I am,” Tony muttered, before moving upward and kissing Steve with everything he had.

Steve could feel Tony’s heartbeat, speeding up gradually as they carried on kissing, every tiny little fluctuation and pulse tapping against this skin in the tiniest of notifications. Tony was right, if he didn’t focus on it, it wasn’t even noticeable.

He didn’t think he was ever going to stop focusing on it, though.

 

“You’re still gonna have to promise me that you’re okay, you know,” Steve said, as he hauled Tony up with one hand and carried them both back toward the elevator.

“And I’m still gonna say ‘always’ every time you ask,” Tony replied, moving his head to kiss down Steve’s throat.

Steve pushed Tony's back up against the wall as he fiddled with the buttons on the elevator, and he felt Tony's tiny little spike of a heartbeat as he did so. The thought that he was going to be able to experience that sensation for the rest of his life; through battles and arguments and dates and early morning kisses, was a feeling that Steve couldn't even begin to describe.

 

There were a lot of things Steve loved about Tony. But there really wasn't anything that could beat his heartbeat.


End file.
